They couldn’t save Diva Fever, but they’re doing alright for themselves…
[Video][Myspace]
[5.38]
Renato Pagnani: I liked last year’s “aNYway” and I like this even more. Restraint is a well-fitting look for these guys; they understand that good house is all about a consistent throb, the kind of clockwork groove that can last five or six minute without losing steam. This is crossover house done very, very well.
[8]
Kat Stevens: So much better than their dreadful last single! I wonder if Armand van Helden had been listening to old Bamboo’s “Bamboogie” and thought to himself “oooo let’s do that but with BONEY M instead”, then slapped the mecha-Streisand chant on top for extra camp points. If only he’d kept in the steel drums!
[7]
Edward Okulicz: A “James Brown Is Dead” for the ’10s. Until you hear it you won’t realise you’ve been waiting 20 years for it. Also, it is a fact that Boney M were amazing.
[7]
Asher Steinberg: Even though so little has been added to/subtracted from the original, it’s striking how much those little changes take something that was unabashedly corny and make it detached and arch — but thankfully, not in a looking-down-our-noses at the original arch kind of way. Notably, one of the two members of Duck Sauce was once looked upon in rap circles as an up-and-coming poor man’s DJ Premier, and on this record you can see why.
[7]
Jer Fairall: I don’t get it.
[4]
Michaelangelo Matos: Armand Van Helden’s loops used to have such give and elasticity. They’ve been more inert since then, and while this isn’t horrible, it’s nothing in comparison to the stuff he was cranking out over a decade ago. It’s like lousy cocaine as opposed to good E.
[4]
Anthony Easton: Gorgeous, late summer jam, all about the joy of a dog day party, fucking love the sample, love the loop even more, kanye looking all serious at 2:16, unable to name Babs turned a tight grin into an all out guffaw — dancing and fucking music.
[9]
Alfred Soto: Serviceable and swirly, if not as daft as a Barbs tracked remixed by van Helden could be. He’s got plenty to be guilty of.
[5]
David Katz: I could see this song working really well as a novelty football chant. Sub the bizarre shout of ‘Barbra Streisand’ for, like, ‘Gianfranco Zola!’ or ‘David Ngog!’ and it’ll soundtrack the pre-game PA for years to come.
[4]
Zach Lyon: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
[0]
Alex Macpherson: When people praise “mindless” dance music, they don’t actually mean music that’s as empty of thoughts and ideas as this inane, zombified husk of a track. There isn’t a single thing here that hasn’t been done before or better, often by Armand van Helden himself.
[3]
Martin Skidmore: I think it’s the bassline that is lacking compared to “aNYway” – it was monstrous on that, but here it’s kind of basic. I like it well enough, but not among either party’s greatest moments.
[7]
Jonathan Bogart: A steroided-out second-hand memory of 70s roller-disco bliss, with a non sequitur vocal interjection that would kill the momentum if any had been worked up to. Babs is overdue for her hipster reappreciation, but this is no way to start.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: YouTube Poop, minus memes, plus big doofy disco beats.
[5]
John Seroff: Okay so the video mix (if not the video) is a good time, even if it is exactly half (.5) as clever as it thinks it is. The vinyl audio is a lot less engaging as a sit-down listen but it’s clearly meant more as an easel for DJs to play on than as a stand-alone, finished project. I need to be drunker to really get into “Barbra Streisand” and it’s somewhat to its credit that I kinda wanna meet it halfway.
[6]
Mallory O’Donnell: Pointless like Sleigh Bells, but with pleasure instead of hip aural masochism in mind, so it’s a whole different matter. So stoopid and buoyant I could see an 18-year old me drinking Popov and OJ to it, so solidly banal no one could possibly extemporize a 600 word blurb about it.
[6]